NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Normally, a college student whose resume makes it to
dozens of Wall Street firms would see their interest as great news.
Not so for Aleksey Vayner, a student at Yale University whose resume and
motivational video have been forwarded by email to firms all over Wall Street,
accompanied by messages like "What NOT to do when looking for a banking job...
(Yalies, go figure)."
Vayner, a self-described "CEO and professional athlete," submitted a cover
letter and resume to UBS AG (UBS), describing his "insatiable appetite for peak
performance." By Friday afternoon, both the cover letter and resume - which
includes a link to the video, titled "Impossible is Nothing" - had circulated
among employees at Lehman Brothers (LEH), Goldman Sachs (GS), J.P. Morgan Chase
& Co. (JPM), Credit Suisse Group (CS) and Wachovia Corp. (WB), to name a few.
Toward the bottom of his resume - after more than a page of experience,
including founding his own non-profit and working at an eponymous
investment-management firm - a category called "leadership" includes a
reference to a 1,650-pound leg press, along with the video link.
Now posted on YouTube, the video showcases Vayner lifting weights, ballroom
dancing, playing tennis, skiing and ultimately, breaking a tower of bricks with
his hand. All the while, he discusses his philosophy of success: "If you're
going to work, work. If you're going to train, train. If you're going to dance,
then DANCE, but do it with PASSION."
His Web site's home page lists his height, weight, eye color and chest size,
and displays side-by-side images of him: one in a suit, and one shirtless,
striking a body-building pose. The site has been taken down since his resume
and video were forwarded around Wall Street and highlighted on blogs late last
week.
"He single-handedly decreased trading volumes over the last two hours of the
day because everyone was laughing too hard," one hedge-fund analyst joked
Friday.
Vayner declined to comment, citing "too many lawsuits" about "public
disclosure of private" matters.
UBS spokesman Kris Kagel said the firm is looking into the forwarding of the
email.
"We're looking at whether it did come from UBS and if so, we'll take action,"
he said. "As a firm we obviously don't circulate (job applications) to the
public."
-By Jaime Levy Pessin, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4546; jpessin@dowjones.com
relevant links/video here:
http://www.ivygateblog.com
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